


Blossoming Love

by lover_of_blue_roses



Series: Jimercury Week 2020&21 [13]
Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, But Everyone is still willing and very in love, Fluff, In Which Persephone is the one doing the kidnapping, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), Intimacy, M/M, Mythology - Freeform, Persephone AU, Understanding, hand holding, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 08:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29963592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lover_of_blue_roses/pseuds/lover_of_blue_roses
Summary: Jim is sick and tired of some 'I'm so much more important than you God' coming through his lovely garden and messing up his flowers. It doesn't matter if he is the God of the Underworld, Jim doesn't have to put up with disrespect. Freddie well, he's not exactly mad at the beautiful upstart that kidnapped him.
Relationships: Jim Hutton/Freddie Mercury
Series: Jimercury Week 2020&21 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622485
Comments: 9
Kudos: 8
Collections: JimercuryWeek2021





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Me sees a greek au prompt and yeets, again. Also if you wonder why this took so long its mostly because of how long this fic is turning out to be.

Jim had carefully planned and plotted. At first he'd been furious, rightfully so, some wanker tearing through his garden and destroying is hard work. But then he'd been told by the kind of servants that served Gods that the lord was Important, a King even, and nothing could be done. He had to rip and tear apart his diligent hard work because why should he be inconvenienced for some nobody?

They were right in that Jim was some nobody. He didn't have a powerful family or friends he could get to petition on his behalf, but that didn't mean he didn't have value or worth, that it was okay to treat him in such a manner. And he was not only going to give that Lord-King a piece of his mind but show him exactly how it felt to be so inconvenienced.

There would be consequences no doubt. One did not mess against such powers without consequences, but Jim was willing to suffer so that the God might never do it again to another person. After all, even if Jim was a nobody he was still a God and could take it far better than some poor mortal. 

Which is why he'd set up a trap. Every so often, although never on any kind of regular schedule, the chariot would burst from the ground pulled by four fearsome sable black creatures. Not only would Jim lose all that he had made, but the beasts feet left a burnt trail in their wake as they tramped along. But this was his garden, his valley! There were countless empty, vacant places on earth, and Jim was given no apology, no gift of recompense though he would have liked ill to accept it. 

He had asked around, discreetly, for any ideas how he might protect his lands from trespassers without mention of who or even how said trespassers were causing him such problems. That was when he was approached by Hephaestus' twin sons the Kabeiros. Cabeiri and Palici wanted their father's favour and had been told a prophecy that they would have it, but only if first they helped Jim.

Jim felt prophecies were generally more troublesome than helpful, they told you what you wanted to know while almost always ensuring you wouldn't get your true hearts desire. But it wasn't up to him and he was deeply grateful to have such powerful master smiths crafting for him, far more than any mortal and asking for the best price, nothing. 

They had made a net of golden metal chains and a mechanism for him to launch it over a large area, trapping whomever he ensnarls in it. Possibly. Hopefully. Jim didn't know if the metal would hold, or the mechanisms to lock into place would, or even if he could be fast or close enough to deploy it, but he felt great comfort in just having it as both protection and revenged. 

Until then he enjoyed his garden. He planted the seeds and coaxed them to grow tall and healthy, but what the green buds would bloom into was not of his doing unless he took the time and effort to go out of his way to create one. That he did only rarely, he had already created enough flowers, and he far preferred to tend them. He didn't want to be their creator only their carer. The rest he left up to them, he wanted to watch them thrive and become, blossom to their true beauty and potential.

It was hot, sweaty work to labour under the sun every day. Jim truly appreciates it, feeling the value and seeing clear results of his hard work, but he knew most Gods would not deign themselves to toil in the dirt. And it is so rewarding. It's much lesser, and yet sometimes he feels like a midwife, delighted to deliver such new life into the world. Only he is not just there for the birth, he then also gets to watch it grow and become. 

Today there was a narcissus growing as yellow as a crocus. This flower was new, unlike that fitting tribute from Mother Gaia herself for the young hunter of Thespiae. The one that had once been him, had grown on that water's edge but this one was comfortable in Jim's garden. Instead of their usual white, this was that striking yellow that caught Jim's attention.

Jim bends down to pick it. He doesn't know if he wants it roots and all to place where the ground is more wet, or just to snap it at the stem as to take this beauty with him. Jim is always wearing flowers in his hair and he enjoys them pinned at his shoulder too. 

But before he can decide the earth parts beneath him. The act is as startling as the noise that rips through the normal quiet peacefulness of the garden. Jim jumps back clutching at his chest, but only for a moment. Then he snaps into action, reaching for the net he now carries in his basket. Tossing aside his normally treasured flowers he drags it out as he pursues the chariot that had made no apology for nearly appearing right under him. 

The Kabeiros were fine craftsmen and even Jim, that was no warrior, could easily and accurately deploy the net. He merely pitched his arm back as though throwing an old net, or a lasso, and unlatching the mechanism as he brought it forward. The golden links of the net soared through the sky, shining brightly against the high afternoon sun before landing just enough ahead of that God as to ensnarl him chariot and all. 

For a moment Jim thinks the links will get held up by the God's sceptre and will fail to dig it's hooks into the ground but it merely ensnarls that too, launching the sceptre from his grip and over the chariot's front. The net's latches sink their teeth deeply into the earth. Carefully Jim creeps forward, concerned that at any moment the God will make some great movement and the net would snap loose. Jim has always wondered what fearsome beasts burned through his garden but now that they are still he can see their form. Cats the size of donkeys, but just housecats for all that their paws burn up the ground. It is not just the ground, Jim realizes as he now hurries to them.

It is the sunlight they cannot take. From whatever pit of the earth they come from, they must be creatures of there for they cannot be out here under the sun's burn rays. Cats are always wily creatures that can squeeze through near any hole so Jim only concerns himself with that. 

The net's holes are about the size of his hand, no effort for an actual housecat, but these huge beasts of burden that pull this golden chariot can't escape so easily. Jim lifts the net with one hand, pulling it taut making the holes wide open even as his other hand wields his curved knife that he normally uses to destemming to cut them out of their harness. 

The cats run out fast and free, burning more of his garden but he can't blame them as they find some shelter under a tree. There was still much sunlight there to say nothing of the spots that get through the bare leaves, they'd be better off in one of his caves. Or even better yet, back where they came from.

Once Jim is done with their liberation he looks up. The God is pinned by between the net and his chariot but he is pushing the net above himself to look at Jim. He is extremely richly dressed, but beyond the gold and jewelry he is also very handsome. And his face is so open- Oh. The God hasn't realized that Jim isn't actually here to free them all, and that he in fact is the man's captor. 

Jim doesn't move off the net, which was possibly dangerous should the other man drag it out from under his feet, and crosses his arms. With the sternest tone he can, he speaks unwaveringly, "So you are the one that create sink pits in my valley and burns my garden."

"I-I am?"

"Is it not you that comes through here and drives this chariot?"

"Yes, I have come through here before," the God is good enough to not lie to Jim. He does not seem afraid of the predicament he now finds himself in. It's true that Jim has no intentions of harming the God, only inconveniencing him, but the other God does not know that. 

"I would ask that you *never* ever do it again." Jim continues trying to be stern even as it doesn't seem to work. Jim has actually never been able to speak directly to this God before, only through other Gods who would not relay his message for Jim was no one of import. So maybe now that he knows and has been informed, Jim could actually technically let him go. 

But no. Jim already decided before today, that he wouldn't. A week for every time he burnt and ruined Jim's garden. Two months ought to teaching him better understanding of those even far beneath him. 

The God however doesn't promise to never do it again as Jim asks of him, regardless of not knowing he would still be punished. "I do not know you. What is your name?"

"I am called Kouros," Jim answers honestly.

"That's no name," the other God counters as he ranked his eyes over Jim, "Nor do I think it still applies."

It's true. Gods aged slowly to maturity before they lived eternally as adults, but still Jim had not been a teenager in countless years. He had the body of a man now, and a beard easily came to his face. But he was given no other name as long as he was to be without power and kept rigidly under Demeter's thumb. "I don't at present use another." 'But I could,' Jim thought. He didn't talk to a great number of people, and those he did had always called him Kouros for they had always known him as such and had never thought to challenge it. Nor had he been dare enough to. 

"No? Not even a name you might call yourself?"

Jim walks around as to face the back of the chariot so the God doesn't have to pull the net above himself. If Jim does so looking down it is only as to not trap the net about his ankle and nothing to do with those dark piercing eyes. "I might."

The God smiles easily. "I thought so. How long do you think it's been since you weren't a child? But have you truly not partaken in the world in all that time?"

Jim huffs and crossed his arms again, this man knew nothing about him! "I have. I have partaken in everything the world has to offer."

But this only makes the God happier as he turns around to sit down in his chariot. "That's good to hear. I hate to hear people are missing out." And he really does seem to be telling the truth, as though he prefers that Jim is experienced. Not exactly what Jim had imagined from someone so fearsome. 

Jim choses not to address it, sending his magic down into the ground and through the soil. Normally he just tended to the plants but he was able to make them grow on command if he so chose. The net's latches in the dirt where slow and heavy to drag through the dirt but were able to under such a force and in such a direction, it was only out of the ground they were designed not to do. 

"I-?" The God clearly had a question but waited to ask it. As the trees sprouted like the frame of a house Jim was mindful to make a thick canopy of their branches and leaves. Just because the God didn't appear to burn in the sun like his cats didn't mean he couldn't be just as sensitive. 

Jim now suspected where the God came from. He only knew of one such place that was beneath the earth and without sunlight. The Underworld. That land on both side of the Styx filled with dead mortal souls. Jim doesn't know any of the Gods from there personally but he has heard the tales and the myth from the Furies to the God of Sleep. And if the God lived in a world without light even if he might not have been born there, being left exposed in garden might be more harm than Jim intends to do. 

"This is very impressive fine work," the God again seems to be honest and Jim can't help but to get flustered. It's not that his work is never complimented, but certainly never by a prisoner, let alone one so handsome. "But I don't understand, are you not the one that threw down this net, can you not release me from it again?"

"Who said I am to release you?" The God hadn't even offered Jim to never come through here again and not wreck his garden, let alone had Jim done something as dangerous as capture another, surely more powerful God just to give them a warning. 

The God throws back his head, tossing about his gorgeous curly black locks as he laughs heartily. "Do you have any idea who I am child?"

Jim huffs and crosses his arms, yet again. It feels like he is bound to feel exasperated by this man, but this is of his own doing in part. He has introduced himself as 'Boy' for all that they had both established he is one no longer. "No. I have no idea, but it doesn't matter because you don't have the right. This garden is my land, and these plants are my work. It doesn't matter who you are, you could be King Above and it would still be unacceptable."

"You say that but you dare not say his name?"

Jim didn't look at the God even if he was right. Jim was asking for enough trouble with kidnapping, he didn't need to attract the attention of anyone else so dangerous and piss them off too while he was at it. 

"What a brave and spirited thing you are. But if I had been another, terribly foolish I fear. You could have been in real trouble. Tell me," The God asked as he grabbed the net in his hand, running his fingers over the link, "What kind of metal is this? I'm not familiar with it's like. It looks like tarnished gold but clearly it is far strong than that."

Jim shrugged honestly. "This I did not make so I cannot say. All I know is that it will not harm my plants nor will it rust, regardless of air or water." 

"A metal we do not know. How interesting, and here I thought I knew all that was of this realm but there always seems to be something new here to surprise me." The God tugged ever so lightly on the links as though to test their strength. Jim was happy to be no longer standing on the netting, but out of it's reach for when he had built the copse of trees. "It's very excellent work, you'll have to thank it's creator." What an odd thing to say, but this God has been nothing but odd. He seems almost... interested in having been captured. How dull the realm of the dead must be. 

Still Jim did not have to wonder what would happen if the God pulled with more of his might. The God was muscular but in a lean and tone kind of way, far more like Apollo than Ares or even Jim. Jim laboured physically and it was clear in his appearance, but the bejeweled rich God in front of him looked like he hadn't done a day of hard work in all of his life. Appearances could be deceiving, especially for Gods, but it was also in his mannerisms and the way he held himself. 

"But you still haven't told me what *I* should call you?"

"Nor have you, even as you laugh at me not knowing who you are."

"Ah yes, do understand I wasn't laughing at you, merely the situation." While Jim would normally doubt this statement, the God has been nothing but honest with him so far and does seem truly delighted by this whole situation.

Jim thinks about it for a moment, uncrossing his arms and chewing on the inside of his lip. He's never really told someone. When he has dressed himself as a beggar or a humble man, he has used that name to go unseen, but it was not the name associated with him, with the God of Bloom and Sprouting. 

"I wouldn't tell a soul if you ask me not too..." The God offered softly, quietly. Jim looked up, furrowed browed. Whatever must the poor man's name be if he offers Jim such a concession. Saddled with something far more limiting than Kouros, although Jim has felt the constrictions of a label he has long since outgrown.

"Jim," he offered simply but honestly. It wasn't much, it didn't come with grand titles, but it was his. 

The God smiled softly, as though he truly understood the gift he'd just been given. The vulnerability Jim had just shown. Jim wanted to cross his arms again, proclaim it nothing, that he didn't care if everyone knew, for after all what was a name if no one used it or knew him by it. But the truth was... It did matter. Jim was leaving who he was, to become who he will be. Someone apparently that captures and punishes Gods that damage his garden. What an odd turn his life has taken, and what strange tales the morals will no doubt spin about this.

"You have still not told me yours..."

The God lowered his head, as the quiet pleasure of having been given Jim's name fades like a slowly wilting flower. "No, I have not." Jim almost wanted to take back his request, tell him that he was under no obligation, just to see that joie de vivre return. But that wouldn't be true, and it wouldn't be fair. If Jim was honest and vulnerable so too does he want it returned. "I have many titles. I have been called the Giver of Wealth." Jim looked at the gold and gemstones the man wears casually and was not surprised to hear it. "The Fetcher of Men," now that was a title Jim was not familiar with nor does he understand it, "He Who Receives Many". These must be mortal titles and Jim, despite his humble nature, is immortal and does not know what does not effect his life. "Most seem to call me the Zeus of the Other Realm."

Holy shit. Jim did not say out loud, in fact he tried not to lift his eyebrows in shock or let his eyes widen. As still and unmoving as the stone. So he'd kidnapped Hades. Makes sense what with the coming from a chasm and being pulled by dark creatures that burn the ground. "Even Hades, King of the Dead, does not have a right to destroy my garden with his chariot," Jim doubled down, he had already kidnapped the man, already committed the crime, and was no less right in his complaint at the crime. 

Hades tipped back his head and laughed again. "Oh, no mighty Jim we all must learn the value of your flowers."

Jim stays stern even as his returned happiness and joy is infectious, "You don't have to find them beautiful or worthwhile for them to be so, and to respect me and mine." 

"Respect... if that is what you want be warned it's not easy to get although easier to maintain." Hades' tone is almost... brooding. 

Jim doesn't know much of Hades but what the mortals say, and they have much to say. He is the God most hated by the mortals, but to other Gods he is... almost forgotten. They do not pray to him as they brave to ride his oceans, nor do they breathe its air or enjoy its rain, no but they will all end up there. It is life that is the gamble, death is the certainty. But it is because Hades is renown for being fierce and inexorable that they hate him so. He cannot be bargained with, it is as though he merely takes but does not give. 

Jim was sure this wasn't true. He'd never been to the Underworld but he'd heard of its fields, of it's accommodations and land of pleasure and rewards as well as punishments. It seemed that Hades provided much and all that could be needed, it was only that he didn't give immortality or even just another chance at life. Harsh perhaps, maybe even cruel, but fair Jim thought. Death, be it plague or war, came for all, the rich and the poor, the old and the young. It was that great equalizer for in the end they could give their obol and nothing more. 

But Jim was a God and would never deal with the dead nor their King unless he loved a mortal. To love a mortal was to know that heartache and tragedy awaited. And so Jim had no reason to hold him in contempt, only to treat him with decent manners. "And what would you like to be called?"

The God shrugged, "You said it yourself. I am called Hades."

Jim huffed but didn't cross his arms this time, no instead he walked closer to the net, as to be closer to the God and better look into his eyes. "Yes just as I am called Kouros."

The God laughs in a defeated way, "Freddie. I like to be called Freddie."

Names have power, the names mortals worship them as, the names the other Gods call them and know them as, but that dilutes the power of the name both to have and use. That's why they have others, that grant them their own powers but also can be gifted to others. It is impossible to place any kind of monetary value on being known and understood. It is something one must freely give, and only hope to be rewarded. Hope and pray, but who do the Gods pray to?

"It's nice to meet you Freddie."

"Even in these circumstances, Jim?" Freddie gestured to his cage.

"Even then, but let me see what I can do to make it more hospitable," And again he sent his influence on the trees and growing things to make the space a room. It was not just the sun Jim's plants must guard against, this land was not arid and rain will come. So the grown roof must be as good as any built. 

Something brushed against his leg and Jim looked down to see the cats pass him buy. He'd thought them all black but in fact it was just from the sun. As their paws burn against the ground, so to does their coat in the air. And in the comfort of the shade, they have returned their actual coats. The cats scurry back into the net, possibly to the better shelter, possibly to their master. 

"Those cats are gorgeous," Jim said conversationally, but also honestly. He'd never seen their like. Cats were by their nature solitary creatures and probably thrived alone in the Underworld in the way other animals would not, and yet these ones were also strong enough to pull a chariot. They must come from a time before even Poseidon had created horses. Jim might no longer be a child, and far past even, but he was no where near as old as a child of Cronus.

"Thank you. They are my joy, such lovely little beasties, and dear company." Freddie's tone is... On one hand, his tone is warm and full of love. Reassuring that this God was kind and loving. On the other hand his tone was tight, and wistful. Like he longed for more company that just his cats. Jim had never wondered before if the Under Realm was a lonely place, but now it seems evident. Only a handful of other Gods in the place larger than any nation, who   
could dare not to treat him an equal. 

That being said... Jim is not bound so, Freddie is not his King, nor was this his domain. In fact if anything here the roles are reversed, here Freddie is his captive. Something Freddie didn't seem bothered by, no in fact he seemed to deeply enjoy it. 

Maybe he was just thinking about when he would get free what terrible revenge he would take on Jim. Jim doubted it, the God gave no such hint of his nature being of being duplicitous in such a way. But if Jim was wrong having his liver eaten by eagles wouldn't be the worse he could face. Hades had set up countless punishments in the after life even if some had been at Zeus' command. 

Freddie however didn't act like a man with suffering on his mind. He freed his sceptre from where it's tip had gotten entangled in the net. The net's metal had not been strong enough to break it or even damage it, its tip of a bird in flight was still intact. Freddie turned his sceptre around and wield it as though a lance and Jim wondered what terrible powers it might have. But instead he simply entertained his over grown cats with the golden bird, making them chase and jump after it as he waved it about in the air. 

Jim laughed, surprised by the sight. Here was the most hated God of all, King of the Underworld, and he yet was merely a man that played with his cats. A beautiful man, Jim couldn't help to notice again. If Freddie was truly not going to hold this imprisonment against Jim then maybe they could truly get to know each other better. And maybe... maybe next time Freddie came to the surface world, though it was too rarely for Jim's taste, they could speak again. Jim would like that. It would be so very nice to have a friend and Freddie, well Freddie is like no one he's ever known before.

Jim created a branch from the canopy that dangled from high and gave it a large wispy flower that danced in the wind. Freddie laughed when he saw it as the cats try to pursue it. Normal cats were great climbers and jumpers, these weren't that different but they were a little too heavy to be as at ease with it. 

One cat was far more vicious than the others, quite the aggressive bruiser. Jim let out 'oh's of shock and surprise as the beast turned on his fellows to snarl and claw ferociously. "What a fighter!"

"And here I had hoped Romeo would be a lover," Freddie quipped, not actually concerned that real harm would come from such behavior.

"More of a Rambo," Jim joked back. Romeo had a tabby coat with a white underbelly and paws, and he was larger than even the other cats. His title was of Orphnaeus, the savage and fleet of the chariot pullers, as well as the only male. People were fools to think that women could not be as competent as men. One of the cats, with a tortoise shell, looked just as ferocious but all the more frightening for her restraint. 

They joked like that as the cats entertained themselves for a while. Even once the cats were tired Jim stayed- just to continue crafting the home, he lied to himself, not to chat. He made for Freddie a bed and a wash basin. It wasn't much, it was probably less than nothing compare to what the riches the Lord of Wealth had, but it was all Jim could offer him. The bed frame was wooden while the mattress was woven in the lushness of nature from soft straw and spongy moss. 

Freddie, who seemed proud and haughty like many men to say nothing of Gods, grew silent watching this. Jim was unimpressed with Hades' power or his wealth, especially as Jim himself lived simply and wanted nothing more in life. And yet Freddie was willing to make himself vulnerable before Jim, for an open and honest communication about their names, and in everyway make himself relatable. 

It was rare that any God of any import or status spoke to Jim, but when they did they came off as wildly out of touch with other people let alone other Gods. As though living on Mount Olympus hadn't just cut them off from the people but also frozen their minds. But Freddie didn't have that problem, possibly because in his realm he reigned directly over the people, and a dead mortal was still a mortal and had been all their lives. Which made Freddie rank perhaps more like a rich king or a powerful lord than a God from the mount. 

Still Jim wasn't used to- "Oh! What fine work," Freddie touched it all curiously, his hands with their long wide fingers stretching out to touch the bedding and stroke it. Jim blushed at the compliment and at the thought of Freddie's hands so gently upon his. "This is so lovely." 

It's not like Jim was also God of Craft, he just dabbled in carpentry. Freddie must know countless people more talented than him, all the most talented mortals end up in his realm one way or another, where they work on his order. Even as Hades isn't an Olympian, he regularly goes to see them and deal with matters, so he must know all of the finest craftsmen Gods too. Compare to that... Jim is just nothing. Small and insignificant as his title name of Child suggests. 

But that is not how Freddie sees him or treats him. As though he is truly appreciated and acknowledge for his talent, something that isn't just his divinely borne powers. And that... well that hasn't happened before and it makes Jim feel something inside, like he is filled with butterflies and a warm hearth. 

Jim stretches out his hand and adds a nightstand by the bedside and a chair in the corner. He hadn't intended to originally, but it's all worth it for the clear joy and pleasure on Freddie's face. Jim had other work he had been going to do. He had wanted to take the opportunity of the windless day to fix the net covering the raspberries and prune them a little. But now he'd rather spend his time with Freddie.

They stay like that, one on each side of the cage, as they talk until the sunsets. Jim makes like he's busy by working on his garden, as though he isn't just making this part beautiful and blooming for Freddie. Normally Jim is all about tending to his plants, not making them out of whole cloth, but he doesn't know how long he'll have with Freddie. Surely the God is too important to stay here for long even if he truly can't escape with his powers. And Jim doesn't want to waste any of that time. 

And Freddie well... His whole face lights up, as cheerful as a child, as he looks over the garden and flowers. Jim lines the cage with thick peony bushes who's white and pink flowers hang heavily. He doesn't just line the outside of where the net meets the earth, but also adds creeping plants to snake over the net but only at the four corners as to not impede the view. It will be a pain whenever they should remove the net, the plant surely locking every link in place, but it's all worth it to see Freddie so pleased when Jim makes them explode with blooms. Freddie strokes a phlox flower's delicate petals before leaning in to sniff. 

It would seem- the very wealth that Jim had turned his nose up to for it dripped off of Freddie as lines of gold, in fact made him all the more appreciative of the finer things in life. A connoisseur who knew so much, who surely must have seen it all, but still felt that Jim's flowers were worthy of his attention. Not just his attention, but also his appreciation. 

Jim normally stopped working once the sun was set and went to his alcove, a nook he'd made for himself at the base of a large tree in the arms of its roots and had padded it like a nest. He can't even remember when he made it, but in the beginning surely when he first must have learned to walk and command his domain. But tonight he doesn't want to sleep in it's embrace, he wants to rest here right next to Freddie as to never leave his side. 

He shakes his head, he's being so silly, of course he'll do no such thing. He'll just- He'll have his dinner here. He leaves only long enough to get the wine and cutlery he has. He allows few animals that are not some of the insects of the field into his valley, they would eat and damage his plants, and has no interest nor time for hunting. Still he is a God enough that he has enough offerings of meat to supply himself. If ever there should come the day when he is not so worshipped, he would come up with an alternative plan. 

He returned and Freddie was so happy to see him again, maybe Jim shouldn't go after all. He could just as easily form a bed here and the sky was clear, there would be no rain tonight. Fool, he tells himself as he calls forth a tree from the ground and sprouts a table that goes across the netting, and stools on either side. Has he not already shown too much of himself to Freddie? Surely this will be used against him and they are still just strangers. Strangers, Jim tells himself like a mantra even as he thinks the word might better be friends, even...

More. Jim lights a candle in the middle of the table as for them to see what they are eating. Jim passes his hand over the flames and draws forth what has been burned in his honour. He pulls out a quail with raisins and assortment of vegetables that appear comfortably in his bowl. Freddie does the same with his bowl but sighs quietly, "I don't imagine you'd be interested in a trade?" 

Jim looked at Freddie's food in confusion, mutton and bread were good and hearty food. It was not like some offering of blood or wheat. "If you wish..." Jim still didn't understand but he offered his bowl which were as almost a little to wide to fit through the net with his fingers around it.

Freddie grateful took it, giving his to Jim in return, before holding the bowl in both hands as though cradling it's for its warmth and taking in a deep breath of its aroma. "I always get offered lamb, and so rarely do I get offered the green and growing, as though I am against life for I reign over the dead." 

At least Jim can be thus reassured he is not the only one to act foolishly because of Freddie, although he doesn't know that such a thing would ever occur to him. It's not like Hades was even the God of Death just of the Dead and reigned their realm, but even to Thanatos Jim would offer his food and fine harvest. "Then I hope you enjoy, and if there is anything you wish to eat, please ask as I might be able to if not grow it, acquire it." 

Jim was God of Bloom and Flowers, not of the harvest, but he had mastery enough over the vegetation that it should be possible. Even if he could only take the plant most of the way there, Demeter's blessing would come after to complete the work he had started. He generally didn't, he was no farmer, preferring his although useless more beautiful flowers for he was in no need of food. But for Freddie- Yes for Freddie, Jim would be willing to do this. 

"Thank you very much," Freddie said softly. Freddie seemed to Jim a contradiction. On one hand he was outgoing and spirited but on the other he seemed reserved and almost shy and quiet. Was it a mask? A falsehood he dawned to deal with others? Jim could understand that easily enough with how the other Gods treated him, as though he wasn't overwhelmingly powerful and his kingdom not great. There was a reason he was called the Other Zeus, even if they were fools to ignore it.

'It's nothing' was on the tip of Jim's tongue, he tended to have a caring and helpful nature, it didn't have to mean anything, he'd been just as helpful to others before. But it did mean something, it wasn't like the previous people he'd been generous too. He held the spoon in one hand but his other he rested near the net's border, Freddie resting his hand just on the otherside. They were close enough to touch, to reach out and lock their fingers together without moving their palms. But they weren't touching, not yet. For the moment there was only that possibility.

Instead Jim replied with a mere, "Your welcome," as they talked some more, but also enjoyed the quiet between the two of them. Whenever the silence grew awkward, the cats served as excellent distraction. They had been attracted by the smell of food and ate with various levels of aggression from their fingers. Jim had been right about the tortoise shell, Delilah the great Nyctaeus who was the proud glory of Hell's steeds, was as pushy as Rambo. More haughty than violent but equally as demanding.

Freddie was sweet and kind with his cats even as they acted like they were house sized rather than stable sized. But Freddie just put up with their aggressive shoving and demanding nipping. Jim could imagine that almost every other God would send them from their table, would be harsh and cruel with the animals. But not Freddie. He did not treat them like beasts of burden, and rather than live in a stable far from him, Jim easily imagined that the cats had the run of the palace. 

Then again Jim doesn't know anything about it. But when he asked Freddie it was as he believed, a huge magnificent palace, made by the finest craftsmen and builders the world has ever seen, but empty. There is maybe a handful of other Gods, a few souls elevated as judges or rulers of his realm but that's it. A room for every cat of which he has more than four, and Jim long ever more to reach out and grab hold of Freddie's hand. When might have been the last time someone touched him in tenderness?

Jim thinks he better understands what he thought about earlier. It might not be that Freddie truly was outgoing, it was in his nature to be loud, proud and bold. Only once he was done, he would grow quiet and smaller, as though done with the day and done with that energy, but it was still genuinely him. It wasn't just a question of energy, though they grew tired like any mortal, it was also what his own realm had done to him.

He was king all day every day with only subjects and few courtiers but no equal. Like his brother of the Ocean, Hades had never married. But while Poseidon had thousands of Oceanides that surrounded him and dwelled in his domain to say nothing of the readily available women of all kinds on land, Freddie had no one. There were no nymphs in the Underworld like there were here. And when those that were, were also his subject.

Is this how Zeus had become such an insufferable shithead? Because he was king of all, and thus had no one to relate to or connect with? Jim was pretty sure the man had been a wanker before even claiming his domain, he had a lovely wife that he treated so coldly and cruelly, not even pretending to be happy with what he did have. How long until such a thing happened to Freddie? Although Jim has only just met him, he fears that it has already in part happened. The way Freddie speaks of others sometimes. Jim doesn't know these people but he's sure that such contempt and inconsideration is... wrong.

But maybe that is the way of all powerful Gods and Jim only doesn't know because he is weak and unlearned of the world for all that Kouros is a title that now suits him ill. 

He does not want to think such a thing of his new... friend. And so he chooses not to. Rather than worry about the what-ifs or the maybe laters, he focuses on the here and now. On what Freddie does and behaves towards him. Maybe the cruelty is a mask, a consequence of his domain and situation, maybe it is the kindness and outgoing nature that is the mask, but how is Jim to judge but to experience and to learn.

And truly Freddie seems in no rush to escape his prison, so they have time still. Time in which Freddie is nothing but thoughtful and willing to listen, as Jim is in his turn. It seems that both of them, on either side of the cage, have gone long without having someone to listen to them, to possibly truly see them as they are. Jim doesn't know when next he might meet someone that does not see Kouros first and foremost. 

Which is why Jim is reluctant to say good night even once the sun has fully set and their meals are finished. He wants to stay and linger even long, afraid that with the coming of morning Freddie will be gone. That the Lord that Dwells in Shadows will return to them under the cover of night and flee before the sun.

But Freddie on his end makes no hurry to ask Jim to leave, he seems just as eager to have the other God stay and continue talking to him. However with the sun's absent goes its warmth. They'll be warm in their beds, under their blankets, but here dressed only for the day, the chill is biting. Jim can feel the cold making his body tense and not long after he can see Freddie start to shiver. So, he must leave, although again he thinks -foolishly- of setting up a cot here to sleep as near as side by side with Freddie that this cage will allow. 

He bids him a goodnight as he clears the dishes as Freddie looks at him with... could it be longing? Is that just wishful thinking? Maybe he is only wistful that he will have to leave Jim, escape into the night. Surely his realm and duties are too important to linger here, and it's not like he must care for Jim's sensibilities. What does a theoi of Cronos care for a nobody God of little to nothing?

Jim only wishes he could pray as mortals do, to have at least the comfort of hope, that they will see each other again. But he hopes it regardless, for at the very least Freddie seems perfectly friendly with him. He could visit him again, without that infernal burning chariot, next time he is surface side. When they've said their goodnights, and Jim has the dishes under one arm, Freddie reaches out.

Jim's breath gets stuck in his throat. Will Freddie grab at the net and tear it down? But no, it's nothing like that. Freddie passes his hand through the net's opening and presents the back of his hand. A high-handed, presumptuous gesture to be sure. Jim would normally tell anyone that behaved so to fuck right off, but this is different. Not just because it's Freddie that see's him, but because he is here at Jim's will, Jim's prisoner even if he has made said no word nor made any more to free himself and in that way appears perfectly willing. 

So Jim lightly places his free hand under Freddie's, supporting it as he leans down to press a moustached kiss upon it. Freddie just looks at him with his doe brown eyes that have turned ink in the fading light of dust and smiles. Jim thinks the facial expression was meant to be more pleased with himself but it melts into something far softer, hopefully because Freddie can read the sincerity Jim is trying to convey through his eyes. 

Jim leaves light-footed but head a whirl, he- He doesn't think in all of his countless lifetimes he has had such an eventful day, or has ever met the likes of Freddie. It is not just that he has never or rarely met a God of Import or Power, and certainly never for such a long, interesting, and engaging conversation. No what makes Freddie so special to him is not that he is Lord of the Underworld, King of the Dead, and Giver of Wealth. His value is simply that he is Freddie. And it is this, this being seen for who he is rather than what his position is, that Freddie sees in Jim and makes him stay. 

Or maybe that is just wishful thinking from a fool... a fool in love. Jim truly feels like the biggest fool of all even thinking that, as he snuggles in his own bed and out of the night's chill. They've only just met today. And yet... Jim has never been in love, but he has had crushes, has favored mortals, and cared for others. Maybe it is not love yet, Jim thinks that perhaps what is more accurate is that there is the potential of it. There is this great chemistry between them, and... Jim must admit things are different with a fellow God like he that will not grow old or die. They could have forever together if they are only willing and daring enough to try.

And with that thought, Jim falls asleep under his warm blanket although the true fire of his soul might lie some distance away.


	2. Chapter 2

Jim wakes with the sun. It has not risen yet, only started to kiss the horizon turning the black blues there the palest shade of oranges and yellows. The stars are even still out, fading before the bright light of the sun. Jim stretches and emerges from his bed slowly, the brisk cold of the morning waking him up even as it makes him want to return to the heat of his bed. 

He covers himself in a wool himation that he will remove, probably before even breakfast is over, but perfectly serviceable until then. That the wool is the finest and the whitest, a gift from the mortals, that he could give to Freddie once he has no more need of it, is merely a bonus. Jim certainly does not choose it because he thinks the color will go so fetchingly against the dark of Freddie's hair and eyes. And surely the God is sick of only wearing black just because that is the only thing ever sacrificed to him. 

Jim makes his way to where Freddie's cage stands. He releases a breath he denies he was holding when he sees the God where he left him, still snoozing on the bed Jim made for him. He looks comfortable even as his four cats seemed to have tried to join his tiny one person bed and must surely be smothering him with their weight. He also looks.. relaxed, his vividly animated face, reposed in slumber. Something Jim is loathed to disturb and so he has his breakfast alone as he watches Freddie's chest rise and fall. 

The cats looks at him but only come to crowd him once he draws forth food, at which point they come to beg. Interesting. Maybe housecats do no such thing as they know they will have nothing, and that only by being a mouser and being competent might they have their own share. Maybe there are no mice for the cats to eat in the Underworld, or at least none enough to feed such large creatures. Surely they would need to take down sheep or goats to feed their size. 

If they have this habit of begging for scraps at the table, it must be because they are use to it. Because the King of the Dead, a God so feared that people avert their eyes and look away when giving offerings, must feed them from his own hand. And perhaps if these were fearsome beasts, like the lions of the mountains or the lynxes, Jim would understand. But they are truly housecats, even if they fight among each other, and they treat Jim like they are not big or powerful enough to demand and steal from him. 

And when Jim feeds them raw bits of flesh they don't nip at his fingers, careful with their teeth that are as long as daggers. They also freely and eagerly accept Jim's scratches about their head, even butting into him with their head and purring, that sounds not so much like a regular cat as the distant rumble of thunder.

When Jim leaves to garden, although he had hoped Freddie would awake before Jim's departure, the cats seem ready to make a fuss, but he shows them easily enough that he has no more meat for that is technically true and he points at Freddie, hoping they are clever and kind enough not to wake their lord-master.

The cats seem to pout but can see readily enough that Jim's bowl is clean and there is no more food to be had on the table. Still they linger. Jim wonders if it is because they will once again nap on Freddie, but for the moment they seem... only to want more of his affection. Jim is only too happy to pet them as he takes off his himation, thankfully white lest the cat fur show more starkly than the sky's stars. He folds it and wedges it through the bars, with a little thought a coat stand grows for him to hang it on. He also leaves Jim a breakfast but only of oatmeal and fruit as he doubts the cats will eat that.

He turns to leave but hesitates with his weight still on his back foot. He has provided for Freddie, everything the God could need. 'Truly a good prison guard,' Jim admonishes himself. If he cares for Freddie, is he not to show kindness and regard to him? Jim turns back around and extends his hand out as he reaches. He reaches not for any one physical thing but merely pulls on his domain as he plucks lilies of the valley out of the ground. They are not a traditional bouquet offering perhaps, but Jim finds them lovely in their simple yet elegant way. And they are white like the himation even as they would stand out if pinned against it for their green stalks. 

Only then he leaves to tend to his garden and unfortunately has his hands too busy to continue petting the cats. Thankful cats are rather solitary creatures and they seem to understand this. They make their own ways, be it to hunt or to nap again, Jim does not know but he does not worry for there is little trouble they can get into here.

Jim could continue to tend his plants where he was yesterday, before Freddie's arrival. But... he could also tend the burnt trail that Hades' chariot had left. Not only is it not Jim's way to merely wave his hand and call upon his power for his gardens, but he could not do what had been undone whole like that anyways. He is the budding new growth, and the blooming start, but only Demeter is the maturing of full age although Jim can sometimes... dip into what is not his. It's against the rules but their domains are close enough that it is more a smudging of them. 

Not only could he not bring his plants fully back to life as they were before, but he can't do anything with his powers about the burnt and damaged soil and foliage. For that only a shovel will do. If Freddie had been unrepentant about it, Jim would have been more than happy to bunk the charred ground upon his head, especially if he had still been sleeping. But as Freddie isn't Jim will just have to slowly reintroduce it and heal it in his compost. That was the good thing about earth, everything could heal, everything could be as it once was, it merely cycled through; the growing and the dying were merely two halves of the same coin that turned round and round.

Jim looks over his shoulder at the thought. The growing and the dying. The God of Growing and the God of Death. Mortals and souls did not come back to life, not as they might hope and pray for, but they did live again first in the afterlife and then reborn again here. Much like the plants. They did not return from their withered state to health but rather broken down before the mushrooms and the creatures of decay to form again the nutrients from which in life they took from, only to be taken again into a new plant. Such was the way of the world, for plants as for people, Jim as for Freddie. 

He turns back to his garden and to the work of removing the top burnt layer, it is not too deep except where the cats have pressed their flaming paws upon the earth and where the wheels of the chariot had rode along behind, which is to say quite a lot of area. Jim needs no reminder of why he was so determined to ensnare the person responsible, and to think he stopped and trapped him before he could go a fifth of his normal distance. Still it will at least be a days work, to say nothing of the mature plants he can do little to nothing to restore. But it's not so much the sweat of his brow or the strain of his muscles that Jim resents, it's the disrespect to his work and his craft. 

Surely it was not Freddie's intent as he has been so kind and complimentary about Jim's creation of his furniture even as that is not his craft. A hobby, an idlement that is outside of his domain but rewarding never the less. As much as Jim can look over his garden with pleasure and pride, he knows that the nature of all plants is to wither and die, and soon even as mortals count time. Not to mention he is only their stepping stone, their budding growth, while another has their maturing ripeness. Maybe that is why people are so quick to think of him, and call him, a boy. As though he cannot age past as he cannot make beyond, as though a person was anything like a plant, or a God like a mortal thing. 

Jim hears a noise behind him but not one he recognizes, it sounds almost like the cooing of a dove. He turns around, expecting some strange bird, some warning from the powers that be that what he is doing is not to be tolerated and that at once he must release his prisoner. But it is nothing of the sort. The noise was from Freddie actually. He is up, leaning against the bar and cooing at him in greeting. 

Not what might be expected from the King of the Dead but Jim knows better than most how people are not only what they are known as. Still all he can focus on is the white himation draped over Freddie and the flower he clutches in his waving hand. 

Jim waves back, smiling easily. He was right, Freddie really does look a vision in that color. The white plays off his coloring and makes him look striking, as though from a hundred paces away Jim could still see Freddie. 

"So then, what are the rules on plucking your flowers?" Freddie asks as he situates himself to be, not seated at the table where they dined last night, but sitting on the floor closest to Jim as he eats his breakfast. 

Jim would almost think that a euphemism but for the casual tone Freddie asks it in. Freddie is definitely not above saying dirty things, but when he does it's with a twinkle in his eye and an implied nudge. It's kind and considerate of Freddie to ask. Jim rarely has guests in his garden but they are not always as good as to ask. And, Jim confirms by looking over his shoulder before looking back at his work, also for Freddie not to ask only after he has done it but rather before. Jim thinks he would rather people not ask at all if they are only going to ask once they have done that which cannot be undone. 

"You are welcome to pick the flowers but I would ask you only snap the stem and not get them by the roots. That's alot more work and- These flowers," Jim gestures around himself, "They are not for harvest, when they wilt it is not to become vegetables and so rarely fruit." That is what Jim does, not the harvest. Although many days he feels like that is inconsequential, what God of Plants is he if he cannot deliver grain and wheat that the people need? But he accepts that he is still in important part of the growth cycle, just as Freddie is with Death. 

And... maybe before the Giver of Wealth value is different. What needs have mortals, or Gods for that matter, of gold? Jewels? And yet they are loved all the same, merely for their beauty from which comes their value, rather than any purpose. For that Jim can easily offer his crafted beauties to Freddie. "Their purpose is their beauty, to decorate this space, so if they give you more pleasure to hold than strapped to the ground, you are allowed to pick them. More than allowed, welcomed to."

"I see, thank you," Freddie seems pleased by this as he continues to eat his breakfast. Surely it is only coincident that Jim's work takes him a little to the side so that he might both work and watch Freddie as Freddie watches him in turn. Freddie is eating his breakfast with only one hand for the spoon as the bowl sits on his thighs. In the other hand he twirls a bright yellow flower. As lovely as Freddie looks in white, the yellow is striking too, maybe even more striking for being contrasted against with the white. 

It's the yellow narcissus that Jim had first seen just as Freddie had arrived. A beauty Jim had not expected nor made, but had welcomed all the same. Much like the God that holds it. Jim wants to make him a whole batch of them, wants to line the cage with them and produce enough to thread them in Freddie's long hair. 

He wonders, almost fears, if Freddie would allow him. Freddie is a King, a God King, and a Giver of Wealth. Surely he must have crowns of gold and gemstones to make any king green with envy, and yet all he had worn was what was the norm. A crown of golden laurel leaves that is subtle and understated compare to the rest of his jewelry. So would it not be too beneath him to accept such a crown? Jim cannot offer Hades riches nor power or position as many would want from a union and yet, and yet Jim would still hope he will stay at least a little longer.

The cats come to investigate their master and what he is eating, slipping back into the cage with ease now that the net is pulled taut. When they see it is only oatmeal, they mewl in complaint and shove at him with their heads. Either they are being gentle or Freddie is far stronger than he seems for he does not shift under their assault . "Have you already fed them?" 

"Yes, although I do not know if it was enough. I feared overfeeding them and making them sick."

"Well then," Freddie deposits his spoon in the bowl and the flower over his ear to free his hands as to pet his cats, "What is the cause of complaint, you spoiled darlings?" They mewl some more, pressing against him. "You dirty, dirty liars, you have been fed already. If you want more you'll merely need to go out and get it yourself. I'm sure there are pests in these tall grasses that you could free Jim of." 

His name- It's silly but the novelty of hearing it, of hearing himself as more than Kouros, hasn't yet worn off. He feels himself smiling as he continues watching the tableau. Freddie sets aside his breakfast and grabs for his sceptre again. Jim has- it would be an odd thought had he not gotten to know Freddie so well in the last day. He wonders if rather than strike fear or declare his reign, the very reason his sceptre is tipped with a bird is for this, to entertain his cats. They certainly do love to chase it up and down and side to side, even with how closed and confided the space Freddie finds himself in, and the length of the staff is perfect for this purpose. This thing that could be used to strike fear or intimidate is in fact just the opposite, it is to care for what he values. 

Jim had known but he doesn't think he had understood until now. He had known, as not only all Gods but even all mortals know, the story of the three sons of Cronus that became kings. They had drawn lots and Freddie was only God of the Dead because that was the straw he had grabbed. That didn't mean there was anything about death in his nature, nor the gloom of the Underworld. 

How different might the world have been had Zeus been made Hades and Freddie ruler of all? Or maybe as much as there was their personality and natures, more so the positions and domains made the Gods. 

Jim looks down and back to his work. He wants to get as much done before the heat of the afternoon makes it unbearable. Then he will take a break and he thinks he would like to do it under the shade of the trees that make the four corners of Freddie's cage. 

Once the cats have had their fill, Freddie returns his undivided attention to Jim who does not dare look up and fall into those deep dark eyes. Freddie gossips cheerfully, interesting in learning all that he's missed. Jim doesn't have that much to say as he's not one for following such a thing and so instead tells him of his dealings with mortals. Freddie finds this equally as interesting, prattling on and on about the mortals that have been through his court and into his realm.

Jim doesn't mind. He doesn't really care either, but the noise is nice and soothing, and Freddie has a wicked way of making stories interesting. Jim suspects it's because only a loose abiding to the truth is kept, but it is also possible that with how many lifetimes Freddie has lived, that he has genuinely seen so much and so much that is interesting. Far from Jim's solitary fields of his valley's garden. 

Yet in all his tales, he does not have any of this realm. It could be that he thinks he has nothing to say of interest that Jim himself has not heard, which is well possible, but it is also possible that the only stories of which he was a part of has ended with him as the... unwanted one. Hades is not a loved or respected God, and Jim can only imagine how the seemingly thoughtless and cruel Olympians might treat him. Not as Freddie deserves though. And Jim is starting to realise, not as he deserves for all that he is minor and to the side. Kouros no more, and he will be willing to correct them on that. 

Jim breaks for lunch and takes their bowls which they had used for breakfast. The fruits he served with the oatmeal remains in the bowl. "Are you- Did they displease you?"

"Ah, no, I just forgot to ask with Miko and the cats demanding of me. But- I meant to ask if they were yours or your offerings."

Jim can feel his brow furrow. "My offerings but why should that matter?"

"I cannot eat of this realm without being tied to it. The- The burning process in which sacrifices are given is fine."

"You... cannot eat?" But then that would mean that Freddie could not spend significant time here without hunger pains or sustaining only on lamb and bread. 

"I'm really not meant to stay in this realm at all," Freddie says trailing his hand through the air, his essence pouring from his fingers like ash.

"But you could be? You could be tied to this realm, if for example you were to eat?" Jim focuses on procuring them something to eat, something nice for Freddie and strictly from his offerings. Lemon glazed duck breast with leeks and carrots.

"But then who would tend to the mortals? I could yes, but I also have a duty. Someone has to do it, and that someone is me." 'Me alone,' Freddie does not say but Jim hears all the same for Gods cannot split a domain even if they might near or overlap in some places each other like he and Demeter. Freddie only looks down at his hands as Jim hands him the bowl, their skin briefly touching.

Part of Jim refuses to believe this. He wants to say it is because he doesn't want to see Freddie suffer, cut away from anything, but a less virtuous part of himself might be refusing this because he wants to see the God again. He doesn't want only brief, rare visits. "You came now so surely you can be away from your duties?"

Freddie locks in fingers into the nets weave, "Ah yes, but I didn't mean to stay so long. I have to get back."

"Get back, sure yes, but you could stay a little while and come back... sooner?"

Freddie is looking at him with hope and longing even as his words are teasing, "I've been told my entrance to this realm causes quite the problem. I wouldn't want to burn such a lovely field and all that hard work, not again." Freddie traces his finger delicately against the petals' of the yellow flower over his ear.

Jim shrugs as though this is a casual suggestion rather than a meaningful invite, "You could always appear on the otherside of the hill, and maybe during nighttime." Jim doesn't actually know how exactly Freddie comes to this realm or creates those portals, maybe he can't do either of those things. Nor does Jim know if the cats would burn up less without the sun or if it is something about either the mortal realm or the running from one realm to another that causes it. Still, it's an idea.

Freddie looks down at the table in thought. His fingers absentmindedly trace his slightly damp lips, as though he is imagining eating from this realm or maybe- Jim looks off to the side, he's being foolish again. Just because they've been so close doesn't mean Freddie wants any such kind of thing from him. Yet he's remembering the dry kiss Freddie had pressed against his hand last night, and is imaging his own lips in the place of those fingers.

But something off in the distance catches his eye. He stands up as he turns his head more fully to see the rapidly approaching blur. Freddie stands when Jim does and turns to face the incoming visitor. Jim walks around the cage to face them head on as whoever this is will have to contend with him first before getting to Freddie. If it's someone strong and powerful like Ares though, he doubts he can stop them and certainly not without the fight damaging his garden. He- His plants would grow back though, they always do as part of life's cycle, and maybe he'd endure such a thing to keep Freddie, even if it was only for a little bit longer.

It's Hermes because of course it is. Who else would carry Jim a message? The silver lining is that the messenger is not a warrior and makes no attempt to sneak past Jim either, approaching him head on and stopping neatly before him. Jim has never met this God but has heard of him endlessly and recognizes him by his winged sandals.

Before Jim can even greet the newly arrived God he feels something jabbing him in the back. Has Freddie chosen now to enact an escape plan, capitalizing on when Jim is distracted and an ally is near by? "Hello Paul," Freddie greets casually over Jim's shoulder as though he wasn't also poking his kidneys.

"Hello Freddie. Are you alright?" It is not surprising that Gods that have known each other so long know each other's preferred names but it's strange that Hermes uses Hades when he should be here on official business. 

"Never better," Freddie replies jabbing Jim again. 

Jim is torn between being annoyed by the sensation and pleased that Freddie's words might be the truth. Right now though he mostly wants to shove whatever Freddie keeps jabbing at him away, but that Hermes would definitely notice. It's not hurting him, just unpleasant but when he snakes a hand behind his back, not trusting to turn his back on this stranger after Jim has kidnapped one of their own for all that they shun Hades, Freddie latches it on to his upturned hand.

"What brings you to my lands?" Jim asks casually as though he doesn't know, is doing nothing special, and doesn't hold one of the most powerful Gods hostage.

Jim can feel what it is now in his palm, the bird that tips Freddie's sceptre. He closes his fingers around it because he thinks that's what Freddie wants. Freddie pushes it out the rest of the way through the net until Jim alone is holding it behind his back. The whole thing happens pretty quickly and discreetly, at least Paul has made no signs of seeing and Jim is far closer to the cage than he is to the messenger God. 

Hermes doesn't deign to give Jim an actual answer, just sneering. It's fair in that Jim knows exactly what he's done 'wrong' but it's still rude. Another belittling thing directed at insignificant Kouros, not even worthy of an answer or being seen as a real threat. 

Quickly Hermes takes in the cage made of netting and the clamp-spikes that drive into the ground. Unlike Freddie, he makes no compliments of the fine trees that have been grown to support it or the woven canopy that provides shelter from the sun as from the rain. But he only looks, makes no move to touch even if he is not equipped to undo it himself. Not just a messenger then but a spy. Calling him a snake in the grass would be too nice as he doesn't just watch and lurk, but will dutifully report to his masters while being incompetent to act himself.

Then his eyes land upon their still untouched dinner. "Have you eaten?"

Freddie shrugs, "And if I have?"

Paul looks at Freddie, a King of a God, like he's a lowly stupid insect. "Then you will be bound to this realm and unable to fulfill your duties. Thanatos has already reported that your souls are restless and was wondering when you'd be returning."

"In under just a day? My dear, you understand that as King of my own realm I do actually know how it functions?" Jim almost gasps audibly. Hermes was... lying? Was he allowed to do that? Wasn't he suppose to carry messages justly and unchanged? And such a basic lie that Freddie could see through it so easily? Jim doesn't know how to respond, instead watching as they continue to seemingly throw bards out their smiling mouths. 

"You were missing at the council despite being summoned."

"I know. I do actually remember you giving me that summon yes. What was darling Zeus concerned that his dear dutiful brother wouldn't show up? Wouldn't come when called?"

Paul doesn't answer that, side stepping it all together, "They sent me to see what was the matter. That is when I spoke to Thanatos who is most anxious about his King's whereabouts. As you said, you are the dutiful brother. It's not like you to go disappearing off when we don't know where you've gone." He tone... sounds like it is caring. The same way that a poison butterfly is all the more colorful. Something lovely with thorns and death just under the surface.

"We had to track down Helios to tell us where you might have gone, where you might be. Told us you'd last been seen here, burning your usual way through," Paul then actually looked at Jim's work, the very canopy that kept the burning sunrays from Freddie also keeping the Sun God's gaze from him.

"I didn't realized I'd be so missed, so quickly, or else I would have thought to send word. I was just so-" Freddie sighs dreamily as he twirls a lock of hair around a finger. This seems to rile up Paul, maybe in the past they were lovers. "Enjoying myself, that it completely skipped my mind."

Freddie puts on a mock pouts and speaks in a dishonest voice as he apologizes, "I'm so sorry, next time I'll be sure to think about leaving a note." As though any of this had been his idea and he hadn't been surprised by Jim's trap. "Then you can tell him to rest assured as I have not disappeared and you now know where I am."

Paul does not seem appeased by this in the least. "And when can I tell him you will return to your duties?"

Freddie shrugs as he casually picks up his bowl of lunch, slinking around his cage like he's one of his cats, confident and terrifying. "I'm not sure." He purposefully lifts a large spoon of the vegetables. "Who knows, but there's no real rush is there?" Jim's not sure if it would be more gratifying to see him eat it or fling it into Paul's face. It's not actually food of this realm that would bind Freddie to here, but Jim wishes it was. Wishes that with a single swallow Freddie would be bound to here, and to him, forever.

Paul looks like his head is going to explode as his face reddens with anger. "You must attend to your realm. It is your lot." His lot in life, appropriately chosen by drawing lots. 

Freddie shrugs again as he lets the spoon droop into the bowl. "Yes, but my realm can be without me for a while. I don't need to be there for all the small things. Thanatos collects the souls. Charon ferries them across. The court and its judges sorts the souls."

This is really apparently not the right answer as Paul only gets more angry. Part of Jim is happy this is not directed at him as who enjoys being shouted at? And yet another part of him wishes it was so that he could stand firm and strong in front of this messenger and tell him to shove it. 

"They could escape, back into the living world."

"Back across the river? Past Cerberus? No, I think not. And anyways, like I said, I will return just not right this moment." 

The Underworld did probably need to be reigned and overseen, Freddie probably did need to eventually return to do that. But what did Jim give a shit? He wasn't a mortal with a mortal soul. If they stewed in chaos or escaped past Cerberus, why should he care? 

"That you-" 

Jim deliberately stepped in between Paul and the cage, forcing the God back a step simply with his broad and muscled body. "He told you. He has answered your questions. You now know where he is, and that he is planning to stay here. If you have no message for us then leave and spread the word to your masters. They can have the council without him, or they can wait." Jim didn't think about it, he was merely standing firm to his words, but he went to cross his arms, the sceptre still in his grip.

Paul, who had looked ready to make more demands of him, dropped his eyes to stare at the sceptre. He looked at Freddie and Jim wonders what he's holding really means. Has Freddie given him his right to reign? Power over the afterlife? But Paul doesn't answer any of his questions or press upon them any longer, almost meekly nodding his head because he takes a running step back, into the air and away. 

Jim waits a beat until his blurred shape is out of sight before turning back to Freddie. "What exactly am I holding?"

Freddie smiles like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth and like he is greatly enjoying this. "Delilah's favorite toy?"

Jim tries his best to look stern, furrowing his brow.

"No, you're right that's not true. She'd much rather go after my hair," he sighs as though put upon.

Jim can't help but smile, one that turns up his lips at the joke. He just shakes his head and returns to their lunch. He sits down and makes to place down the staff as he likes to eat with two hands when Freddie stops him with a gesture. 

"Darling," and Freddie is smiling widely and easily. The King has never been with someone else who's knows him so little and he finds it simply delightful. To be accepted as Freddie, Hades only being what he does. "Don't put it down tip first like that." A reasonable request as the bird is so finely crafted, it's outstretched wings so life like it is as though it was once alive but only cursed into being trapped in molten gold. A gold that could well be soft, though surely it must not be that delicate as the cats have not yet destroyed it.

Jim makes to flip it in his grip when Freddie seems to change his mind. He has the devilishly wicked grin again even as he trusts Jim with this. "Do you care for this bit of the garden, just this bit right here."

Jim furrows his brows and looks around. "No not really." Even if he did he thinks he would lie because he wants to know where this is going. But it is the truth, with the burnt path Freddie cleaved in the middle, Jim has plans to change it to something new even as he realized that part of the surrounding, the part that will be in the cage's shadow for the hot parts of the day will need to be different to continue surviving.

"Alright then. Touch the tip to the ground, not right here, not underneath yourself some ways away." 

Jim is afraid he understands what this will do without even doing it. Such a warning as though- Jim looks at the sceptre in his hand and at Freddie, at Hades that freely and enthusiastically gave this to him. No, it's not exactly a sign of his reign. With his arm outstretched Jim kisses the beak of the golden bird upon the ground as far from himself as he can. 

The earth crumbles instantly beneath it's touch, vanishing as though it was never there in a loud sundering noise and leaving a pit of absolute darkness in its absence. Stygian indeed. Yawning blackness of the hole straight through this realm and right down to the Underworld. The very light of the sun seems to be consumed as it nears this large gapping crevasse. There is the lightest gust from the air being sucked in, as though trying to pull Jim in too. Even as Jim stands a pace away, he feels overcome with the fear and terror of falling in, as though standing too near a cliff. But this is even worse than that, and quiet possibly that he would meet a similar fate than Hephaestus should he fall without Hades' chariot to ride down. 

From it comes nothing, not noise, nor the stench of death, nor cold. It feels cool only compared to the scorching sun but not even as chilled as a cave. Still the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Jim can feel it like a beast preying on his senses, waiting and lurking in the tall grass to pounce. He identifies what it is although it has no particular flavor to his senses. It is the unsettling dread. Like a sharp claw is around his soul, pricking without piercing, yet. That is no place for his kind or for flowers. 

He feels trapped in that hazy feeling of not knowing dream from reality, and he wants nothing more than to shut his eyes and run away from this impossible nightmare. Jim lifts the sceptre, taking a step back as though he can't get away fast enough.

He hadn't even noticed until they returned, the sound of birdsong and the wind. Just as the hole appeared, it disappears as though it never were. Well the earth does at least. The soil has returned to it's place but now the greenery that grew upon it is dead, withered and wilted. And yet. Jim looks at Freddie, who looks back at him. Freddie has something quite like fear in his eyes but it is not of that place or of this sceptre's powers. He worries that now Jim will fear him and what he does. 

But that is not at all what Jim has concluded. He reaches out a hand and seeks out with his Godly domain. Over flowers, greenery and growing things. He feels them, the hollowed out husks that are left. He could leave them, let them be dead. Reap them and place the stalks on his compost as the roots would stay for the worms and the mushrooms. Or...

Jim almost isn't sure he can do it. He is a young, nobody God, what is he in the face of death? And yet he is still that which is born and grows, that which blooms, and he lets himself reach out, fill the plants again with life and growth. Their wilted forms straighten, their grey tones return to green, and flowers even bud and blossom. 

He looks over at Freddie who is looking over at him. "Huh," is all the God King manages. Jim could not do the same to the mortals, those are beyond him, but he is still life, he is still that which fights against death and gives life. 

Jim is pleased with himself, and the hot gaze of Freddie's regard upon his skin. First he has caged Hades and now he seeks to conquer death. He will be Kouros no more, and they will learn his name and to worship him, properly. He takes a moment to appreciate the realization of this. He will not close his eyes or let himself live through live as though dreaming anymore, he will be present and able in every way as he looks up to the sky and sees the wind once again drawing the clouds across the blue.

Jim then settles himself back down for lunch, carefully setting the sceptre the right-way round as he leans it against the cage. He's not worried about Freddie reaching through the openings to take it for himself and free himself. No, if he was going to do that he would have already done it. And so Freddie chooses to remain a prisoner, and enjoy more of Jim's company.

Jim eats as though this were any other day, and he had experienced no revelations. It's not like the sceptre and it's powers don't make sense. This is how the Lord of that realm travels, not bound to pass only through it's natural entrance, nor to exit it in such a manner. It's hard to imagine the mighty Hades with his golden quadriga on Charon's boat slowly inching across the Styx river every time he leaves. And that's why it was important Hermes not *think* he have access to it. 

He could just take the staff with him when he goes, leave it somewhere that Freddie couldn't have access and thus ensure that Hermes wouldn't be able to argue such a thing. But that would truly make Jim feel like the God's jailer. Anyways if he wants a God with winged sandals not to find it, he would have to hide it, preferably in the ground, but he doubts if that would be possible.

Jim has rather a different kind of idea. As he finishes his meal, one that his tablemate deeply enjoyed which is always pleasant, Jim examines one of the trees he made. It's a black poplar that holds the south-east corner of the cage. Because Jim grew it over the matter of seconds the trunk is flawless, without a single burr to mar its surface. Jim slides his hand through the net to waves his hand over the thick and furrowed bark on Freddie's side. It parts and separates to show it's wooden flesh.

Once the hollow is significantly long and tall enough, he slips the sceptre into it. He turns around just to make sure Freddie is watching. He is, his dark eyes locked onto Jim. Jim reaches out to grab hold of Freddie that easily accepts his touch, his other hand running up Jim's arm enjoying the masculine hair that covers him. 

Jim does more than allow it, he approaches his face close to the bars for Freddie to pass their linked hands softly over his face. After the heavy meal of lunch, and the hot afternoon sun peaking, Jim normally takes a nap. He now feels tired and languid, wanting nothing more than to bask in Freddie's touch and maybe even sleep at his side. 

Still once Freddie is done touching him in such a lovely and delicate manner, Jim directs their hands back on target. He passes Freddie's hand through the tree and then closes the wood back up. Freddie shoots a panic look at Jim, as though he is worried that Jim might enclose his hand in the wood. Yet he makes no move to let go, or even call out. He just stares at Jim with those soulful brown eyes that Jim could spend an eternity drowning in and... chooses to trusts him.

Jim of course had no intentions of hurting Freddie, but it still warms his heart to be so trusted. The tree only closes enough that the sceptre is not readily visible but open enough that Freddie can fit his whole hand stretched around the staff through, and of course an opening at the top large enough for the bird. 

Freddie experiments, taking it in and out, to make sure there are no problems. But Jim is a fine craftsman, as evident by the furniture shaped for this room. It slides in and out without problem while being difficult for any passerby to see. The cats come over, interested in this strange new game that is being played.

And Jim- well Jim is in no rush to return to his work under the pounding sun. Not when he could stay here with the cats... and with Freddie. Just for a few hours he tells himself, but as the afternoon turns to evening and the peak of the day's heat wanes, he tells himself he can have this one day off. He will work again tomorrow and everyday after that, he is allowed this one liberty.

By the time it is dinner again, Jim wants nothing more than to rip down the cage with his bare hands as to be able to be close with Freddie, as to reach out and truly touch the man. But if he does that then Freddie really will have no reason to stay, and Jim is not naïve enough to think no one will notice or that Hermes will not come back again. 

"You could... you could stay here," Jim offers out of the blue. Freddie furrows his brow so Jim thinks he has to clarify. "I mean without the net, you could stay here with me, at least a little while longer, and return. Soon."

But that was not the source of Freddie's confusion. "I very much plan on it. You have invited me to come visit again as long as I do not burn my chariot through your fields and I plan on it. Or was I too subtle earlier this day when I told Hermes that my message to that whole lot was that they could all go fuck themselves?"

Jim can't help the chuckle that over takes him and Freddie seems surprised to readily join. They laugh like that, free and out of control, losing it every time they look at each other again. "I still can't believe you did that."

"Oh those motherfuckers have never deserved it more. It's all fuck you Hades, no one worships or likes you, unless of fucking course, they need something." Freddie gives Jim a pointed raised look, like you can imagine well exactly how I feel about that. And Jim can. Maybe when Freddie isn't here and must return to his realm for his duties Jim ought to join him. Take a vacation to the Underworld. See where they would be without growth and bloom from little insignificant Kouras. 

Jim reaches his hand out through the bars and Freddie easily offers his hand for them to link theirs together again. "But they're wrong, and fucking assholes about it too." At least with Jim they only treated him with complete indifference, and he never had to suffer their presence. "You're worth so much more than that."

Freddie flips his hair over his shoulder dramatic with a wink, "Of course I am darling," but Jim can see the soft soul he is inside still preening in pleasure at the compliment. And he turns to Jim with his lovely smile and those deep brown eyes, "As are you."

Jim feels warm inside. It's not the burning flames of lust that threaten to consume him whole, although he's certainly found Freddie very attractive for all that he isn't the type Jim normally goes for. Rather this is like the candles flame or even yet the hot stones of a fire, it is slow but smoldering and heating him from the inside out without burning him. All the comfort of a hearth, of the heart of a home. 

He draws Freddie's hand through the netting to press it against his face as Freddie had done to him, and is sure to return that sweet kiss. He is so happy to have found someone that truly sees him, that they have both found this. And regardless of what any fucks on Olympus might think, nothing will ever keep them apart, at least not for long.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a tumblr post about 'what if persephone kidnapped hades'  
> https://fandomsandstuff.tumblr.com/post/642338350266810368/lightspeedsound-nicbutt-sindri42


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